2 posts tagged “gasoline”
"production cuts by the OPEC cartel may be having an effect, along with growing tensions in the Middle East and the sentiment by traders that the precipitous drop in prices went too far"*. Any one of these or all, will be the excuse for gas companies to start raising prices again. Actually, it's all ready happening. Gas jumped in my area a couple days ago, from $1.45 to $1.59. Today it went to $1.69. All over five days. I know this is probably cheap compared to other areas.
Why does gas only drop a few pennies at a time, rise five to ten cents at a time? I'll call it what I think it is, GREED. If you are raising the price of your gas in the tanks, and haven't gotten a fresh delivery, it's greed. How can the gas in the ground be affected by world events? These gas stations are no better than the government, They all put the screws to the little guy because he can't do much about it. He's got to take and half like it.
Maybe the auto industries shouldn't have gotten a bail out until they signed a contract to produce a hybrid type vehicle that the average person could afford. Then OPEC can be kicked to the curb. Gosh, wouldn't that be ashame? OPEC told to hit the bricks. Maybe gas and oil should not be a speculators market. Then speculators couldn't drive the price of oil and thereby messing with the price of gas.
Seriously, those in charge really don't care. If there is a buck to be made, they'll go for it. So what if it puts some in a bind, gots to have that dolla bill man. Makes my article "Screwed At The Pumps" (May 22 2008) all the real. But I could be wrong about all this, but I bet I'm at least half right.
* New York Times 1-06-2009 Clifford Krauss
What's up at the convenience stores? What's with the price hike in gas from one day to the next? Why they porking us so hard? They raise the price whenever they hear the price of oil has gone up. There is a fellow in my town who owns several stations (the picture isn't one of them). He says he is only making about three cents a gallon. He raises the price as he gets a shipment of gas and the price reflects that shipment. Of course that is a lie. He must be getting a shipment every other day or so. Truth is, when the news reports that the price per barrell of oil has gone up, the local stations here raise their price that night, the next day or the next. Is that reflective of a shipment? No, that is trying to make more money off what you have in the ground, right now. This guy has spiked his gas as much as ten cents on the news of oil cost from one day to the next, and a few days later lowers it two or three cents. Are we being boned at the pumps? Hell yes, what do you think? Can the politicians help fix this mess? Would you want to if you had stock in a big oil company? I wouldn't be quick to fix it. Price goes up, mo money, mo money for me. It's a big con game and we can't do anything about it.
